This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Restoring Elvis’ tractor

Elvis Presley may be better known for his fondness for Cadillacs, motorcycles and the jet he named for his daughter, Lisa Marie. But the Tupelo, Miss., native had an Aggie side, as well.
Shane Louwerens and his special project class at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, Miss., know that when it came to purchasing and maintaining a tractor for the farm Elvis owned near Senatobia, Miss., the Rock and roll legend preferred "green."
Louwerens, a Northwest instructor, and four graduating Northwest sophomores spent nearly 400 man hours restoring the King’s 1963 John Deere used at Elvis’ Circle G Ranch in DeSoto County, Miss., and at Graceland for many years.

T.J. Jernigan, Northwest Mississippi Community College | Jun 24, 2009

Everybody knows that Elvis Presley preferred pink Cadillacs, blue suede shoes and gold-sequined, white jumpsuits. But do you know the color of his favorite tractor?

Shane Louwerens and his special project class at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, Miss., do. Elvis was a “green” guy.

Louwerens, a Northwest instructor, and four graduating Northwest sophomores spent nearly 400 man hours this year restoring the King’s 1963 John Deere used at Elvis’ Circle G Ranch in DeSoto County, Miss., and at Graceland for many years.

The students were not let in on the tightly held secret of who the tractor belonged to until officials from Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., and John Deere Corp., came to pick up the tractor and recognize the students for their work.

The tractor was moved to a newly-prepared exhibit space May 8 at the Elvis Presley Auto Museum — located at the national historic landmark Elvis Presley’s Graceland.

In the special project class, which is a part of Northwest’s Agricultural Technology/John Deere Tech program, students are required to work hands-on with broken equipment so that they can learn how to deal with a variety of problems that tractors can have. The class does a project every year that deals with either restoring or preserving an old tractor.

Earlier this year, corporate representatives from John Deere’s Atlanta branch contacted Louwerens to ask if he would be interested in preserving an old tractor with the help of students.

“When the group came to tour our facility, I felt like I was in a job interview at some prestigious company,” he said. “They made sure our location was secure, and that we had the ability to do the project to their specifications. I was baffled when they asked me not to replace any parts unless absolutely necessary, and any parts that were replaced had to be saved, bagged, and returned to them.”

After Elvis Presley Enterprises decided that Northwest had the ability to complete the project, Louwerens was told the secret of why the project was so important.

He said that when he learned that the tractor had belonged to Elvis Presley, he was in awe and realized how special and historic the project really was.

However, for security reasons Louwerens decided to keep that fact a secret from anyone not directly involved with the project, and didn’t even tell the students who were working on the tractor every day.

A team of four students, Andrew Fortune of Falkner, Miss., Aaron Jolley of Ider, Ala., Blane McGuire of Falkville, Ala., and Timothy Reed of Ackerman, Miss., worked on the project every day with Louwerens, never knowing who or what the special tractor was for.

“It was hard to keep it a secret from the guys after a while because they knew that something was up from the beginning,” Louwerens said. “They wanted to know why I was being so tedious and careful with everything.”

According to Louwerens, a project like this usually takes at least a year to complete, but he and the group of students worked over 385 hours in just 30 days to get the job done.

“The tractor was in typical condition for a 1963 model, and required disassembly, pressure washing, and a ton of other detailed work too long to list,” he said.

In all, only about 10 pieces of the tractor were replaced, leaving the majority of it in original condition. Some dents and scratches were left on purpose in order to preserve the tractor’s historical and sentimental value.

Students even used jeweler’s polish to restore the original gauges and light covers so that they could be used.

Louwerens said, “Every one of our projects get a nickname. We called this one Stella.”

Dandridge Equipment in Somerville, Tenn., supplied replacement parts that were needed, and Louwerens admits that finding replacement parts for the 40-year-old tractor was one of the hardest parts of the project.

The students were required to keep daily journals of work performed on the tractor, and Louwerens took photographs of the entire process from the time it arrived on campus until the time it was completed.

The tractor sold for about $3,000 in 1960 when it was first produced. Presley obtained it in 1966 when he bought the Circle G Ranch. After he sold the ranch, the tractor was used for years at Graceland in landscaping projects, maintenance and farm work.

The John Deere 4010 tractor, a Series 213, general-purpose diesel tractor, was built at the John Deere Waterloo Tractor Works, in Waterloo, Iowa, and shipped to a John Deere dealership in Tunica, Miss. Presley also purchased a 46A John Deere loader for his tractor, which makes this one very unique.

John Deere and Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., will make a die-cast replica of the tractor based on photographs that Louwerens took of the finished product. He said that everything on the replica will be “true to life,” and it will even have the same dents and even the unique 46A loader that is rarely found on die-casts.

The replica will be available for sale at authorized John Deere dealers nationwide, on ShopElvis.com and at Graceland in November.

While at Graceland, the students were taken on a VIP tour of the mansion and auto museum, and were treated to lunch with employees from the John Deere Corporation. The four students were also given a framed photo of themselves posing with the tractor and a gift bag from the Graceland gift shop.

All four of the students who worked on the project graduated in May to pursue careers in the field of agriculture equipment mechanics.

“The best thing about this project is knowing that I’ve been a part of this — a part of history,” said Fortune.

The Agricultural Technology/John Deere Tech program is a two-year curriculum plan designed to teach students about agricultural mechanization and train John Deere Service Technicians. For more information on Elvis’ John Deere tractor, visit elvis.com. For more information on the Northwest Agricultural Technology/John Deere Tech program, visit www.northwestms.edu.

T.J. Jernigan is a sophomore journalism major and editor of the Northwest Mississippi Community College student newspaper, The Ranger Rocket. Nancy Patterson, Northwest director of public relations, contributed to this story.